(Heartfelt Apologies to those peaceful Native American veterans)
Trump links the Navajo & Pocahontas.; very different peoples & cultures who both suffered. Physically separated 2100 miles (3400km; Dinétah or Farmington NM, to Jamestown VA), more than Beijing - Kathmandu, or Paris - Jerusalem.

Monday, November 27, 2017

Friday, November 24, 2017

America's betrayed by its leadership.We can each wish simplicity & unity might create a virtuous dynamic society. But it ain't gonna happen.The leadership itself is deeply corrupt.Difficult problems are deliberately hidden. Reality is ignored in favor of bullshit [talking nonsense in order to deceive].We live in complex times. We rely upon many intricate and highly-technical systems everyday to survive. We've great need for quality control. Organizations such as NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology, in the US Department of Commerce) have worked many decades to improve safety and reliability in products & services. Such operations are being cut-back (and some programs eliminated) via short-sighted greedy private interest lobbyists.Low Taxes = Good?Less Government = Good?When you step outside and the concrete disintegrates around you due to shameless, poor quality insider contracting, don't complain. You gave government to idiots & swindlers.

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

The idea that Japan's PM Shinzō Abe has some fundamental policy vision to rescue Japan is bullshit. Japan is wonderful in many ways, but most national-level politicians are unhelpful. The cumbersome bureaucracy is a horribly expensive burden. Abe surely is more part of the problem than solution.

The dude has been Prime Minister for more than five years, and he's a bullshitter.

The promise of "Abenomics" is silly. Abe served one year in his first term, and will soon be five years in his second term. He's wholly ready to grasp credit for any systemic economic gains, but there've been almost none. He's a bum.
BUM

Brexit. Sounds so glib & neat. Brexit is a huge boon to military spending and aggressive policies -- in service to Big Brother.

There's been deliberate misinformation about EU costs & benefits, and blatant lies promising how funds would be reallocated. Some voters have no confidence in the referendum process itself. Was it done fairly?

The process is far more important than the proclivities of individual politicos, but the inattentive failings of UK PM David Cameron are cited as acceptable if regrettable. Why?

Why couldn't long-term British expats vote? And while local voting by British residents is allowed in other EU nations, similar people in the UK were shutout from the Brexit poll.

Saturday, November 18, 2017

Leif Östling, chair of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (Sweden's
largest business federation)

Svenskt Näringslivs
ordförande Leif Östling

"What
the hell do I get for my tax payments?"

"Vad fan får jag för pengarna?"

If you've paid all that wealth, why not pay
in full and do the right thing for all you have in Sweden?Om man nu har betalat all
den där skatten, varför inte betala helt och hållet och göra rätt för sig i
Sverige för precis allt man har?

Leif Östling, the chairman of Sweden's largest business federation,
the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (Svenskt näringsliv), ended up
in hot water after the leak revealed he kept German stocks worth 30
million kronor ($3.56 million) in a company on Malta.

He insisted it was all above board, and is not suspected of any legal
wrongdoings, but was forced to backtrack on Monday after controversial
comments he made in an interview with SVT on Sunday:"It's a problem with the Swedish tax system, the taxes are insanely
high in this country. (…) You ask yourself: If you pay 20-30 million
kronor a year – what the hell do I get for the money?"

It is famously said that Sweden has some of the highest tax rates in the world.
The cliché is that Swedes all happily pay their taxes, safe in the
knowledge that the public services they receive in exchange will be of a
good standard, and Östling's comments caused quite the stir, with the
hashtag #whatthehelldoiget (#vadfanfårjag) trending on Twitter on Sunday
evening.

The youth wing of the Social Democrats demanded Östling's resignation.
"His actions, devoid of principles, go against everything the Swedish
model stands for. It is not appropriate as the leader of Sweden's
largest organization of employers," wrote chairman Philip Botström in a
statement.

Östling backtracked on some of his comments
in an official statement on Monday, saying he had spoken as a private
individual, not as the head of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise. "During the conversation I said, among other things, that I do not get
'a lot' for the taxes I pay in Sweden. It was carelessly expressed.
Sweden has a generally functioning welfare system. What I was trying to
say was that I personally had used it very little compared to my
financial contribution to it," he said, pointing out that although he
had invested some of his money abroad, he had also paid 84 million
kronor in income tax and 23 million kronor in capital gains tax in
Sweden over the last seven years.

Friday, November 17, 2017

Trump and the Republican Party are trying to impose their cruel Oligarch Tribute Bill on America's mostly-impoverished rubes.

It's not "tax reform" -- it is so much more.Forced wealth transfer to the Overclass. This means You are Shut-out from the Best in Life. If you're American, you're probably among the 320 million losers. Do you resent the "rube" label? Can't imagine yourself a sucker? Tough world... and it gets tougher as these people get more money.

Monday, November 13, 2017

Militarism has controlled America for more than 50 years.The military system costs a huge amount of money, and wastes lives and health around the world. We prop-up an Overclass of wealthy elites who shit on the rest of us.We should spend time & effort in more productive directions.We might focus on "frugal innovation" जुगाड़ (jugaad) or lifehacks. We can improve internal infrastructure. We can profit from environmentalist business models -- upgrading from dirty, less sustainable industries. We can build better communities. We must truly improve our lives.

Our militarism leaves us on the hook for a total $5.6 trillion in obligations by end of fiscal 2018.

The same corporations and landed elites that brought us Vietnam and other Southeast Asian wars of the 1960s and early 1970s have led us into this morass. It's a swamp -- our parents and grandparents failed to drain it, and we pass the conflicts and growing debts to our kids and grandchildren.

US Militarism is a massively frustrating waste of lives, money and human energy.

Investing in occupied territories around the world, does the typical American feel proud? Or do we feel cynically manipulated?

Tuesday, November 07, 2017

Most wealthy weasels around them are similarly obscene. They lobby for militarism and for entrenched favored interests in banking & finance. Both Republican & Democrat, they inhabit a swamp which is being enriched by Trump, not drained as promised.

Clinton running-mate, corporatist Kane was obscene.

And former President Barack Obama. Yes, Obscene corporate puppets.

Our world has many problems. Billions of people live in poverty and distress. Our lives could be greatly improved with a proper social focus. But instead we focus on the process of getting additional wealth for the already obscenely wealthy. We fuel a military arms race that keeps us poor.